Atwood Ink

Dave Nielsen’s love affair with tattoos led him to open his own solo studio.

Dave Nielsen sits with his inked arms, hands and fingers in his lap, peering through his black-rimmed glasses out the front window of Hand and Eye Tattoo. His love affair with tattoos began early: “I knew right away I wanted everything tattooed, before I even got one,” he says.

Hand and Eye Tattoo officially opened May 6 in the Atwood Studios building at 2716 Atwood Ave. The 750-square-foot space has 16-foot ceilings and exposed beams and is decorated with Nielsen’s artwork, action figures and a Felix the Cat Clock complete with roving eyes and swaying tail.

Nielsen says the most exciting part of owning his own business has been the freedom to come and go as he pleases.

Plus, he likes the sense of identity it gives him: “This place is me. It’s all me. That’s really thrilling.”

Still, sole ownership is a responsibility and sometimes what he calls “obsessive compulsive” behavior kicks in: Nielsen says he might check the locks three times before he leaves at the end of the night and flip the light switches on and off.

“It’s good for me, as a tattoo artist, to be obsessive,” he says. “At the same time, tattooing itself has been one of my obsessions.”

Nielsen grew up in Sterling, Illinois. “I starting drawing before I started talking,” he says. “My mother kept drawing implements in my hands to keep me busy.” He was 16 when he got his first tattoo. Years later, he began an apprenticeship at Tattoo Blue and Body Piercing in Macomb, Illinois.

In 2001, a girlfriend — and the chance to work at Steve’s Tattoo and Body Piercing on

Williamson Street — brought Nielsen to Madison. He worked at Steve’s, one of Madison’s pioneering tattoo shops, for 16 years. “Working at Steve’s shaped me as an artist,” he says.

Now, at Atwood Studios, his inspiration comes from his new neighbors. The building of individual art spaces is home to a photographer, a man who carves marionettes and puppets, four women who create jewelry and a metal artist who created the curtain rods and countertops for Hand and Eye.

Nielsen signed the lease in December and spent nearly six months and $25,000 on renovations. He made frequent trips to Deconstruction Inc., the architectural salvage shop on Walsh Road, for wood and doors, and hired Atwood neighbor Megna Painting for the walls. Nielsen even built the coffee table in the waiting room from repurposed wood (an old counter) he found at the Atwood Studios building.

Nielsen’s intention is to keep Hand and Eye Tattoo a solo affair. “I may occasionally have a guest spot, but for now I will enjoy it being me,” he says. “This is a little different from other studios. Customers have the option to have it more relaxed, more private,” with just one tattoo artist. “And for some, [that’s] maybe less intimidating.”